The most important thing is to find people that you enjoy - friends that you enjoy playing music with.
The Disney deal created some wrinkles. I'm under contract. But I'm on standby.
Cale is my signature character in the Forgotten Realms. The most popular character I've written. He's a thief, an assassin, and eventually, a priest who stabs his own god in the chest. Always trying to slip his past, but never succeeding. Dark dude. Brooding dude. Born killer. But honorable, still.
I like to keep the world, to some degree, an implied setting.
I enjoyed The Mirage by M. Ruff. I'm reading Edgar Rice Burrough's Princess Of Mars right and loving it.
I loved The Weird (one of the stories in it inspired Blackalley in Discourse).
Original work has no floor and no ceiling. You can reach essentially zero readers or millions.
For some reason most critics have a hard time fixing their minds directly under their noses, and before they see the object that is there they use a telescope upon the horizon to see where it came from.
There's nothing like going on with a thing.
As you pray for forgiveness, you will find yourself forgiving others. As you thank God for His kindness, you will think of others, by name, who need your kindness. Again, that experience will surprise you every day, and over time it will change you.
There's no greater service to this country than the defense of its freedom.